Corporate Responsibility : process content context

1. Dr Lez Rayman-Bacchus London Metropolitan University Business School CSR Conference Moscow International Higher Business School (MIRBIS) 2011 Dec 6-7 Corporate Responsibility: process content context

2. Contents • Global Ambition • Dimensions of Corporate Responsibility • Process • Content • Context • References

3. Global Ambition • Agreement in the abstract EU policy (Oct 2011) states that to fully meet their social responsibility, enterprises “should have in place a process to integrate social, environmental, ethical and human rights concerns into their business operations and core strategy in close collaboration with their stakeholders”. The aim is both to enhance positive impacts – for example through the innovation of new products and services that are beneficial to society and enterprises themselves – and to minimise and prevent negative impacts. • Developmental 10 years earlier: “a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis.”

4. Global Ambition • Agreement in the abstract World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Making Good Business Sense CSR is “…the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as the local community and society at large". • Developmental An emphasis on sustainability (meeting both present and future needs while protecting the environment)

5. Anatomy of Corporate Responsibility: Process Content Context The need to ‘unpack’ complex and contested concepts: • Help analysis and understanding • Articulate (dimensional) differences and interdependencies • Aid assessment of organisation effectiveness (transparency, accountability, performance against goals) • Aid assessment of impact and setting goals • Explore inherent contradictions and tensions (short-term imperatives versus long-term necessities; prescription versus practice; ethics of entitlement; environmental ethics • Definitions of CSR identify process and content but not context and cannot articulate their differences and interdependencies • Process and Content directly affect performance, while Context moderates this relationship

6. Dimensions: Process Responsible to whom? • Should the business entity be used as a vehicle for coordinating stakeholder interests, instead of maximizing shareholder (owner) returns? • Is there a social contract between firm and stakeholders? Strategy • Stakeholder management or stakeholder engagement? • Deliberate, pre-emptive • Emergent, responsive

7. Dimensions: Content Responsible for what? • Prioritising: Be profitable, operate legally, be ethical, philanthropy (Carroll, 1979) • Triple bottom line (impacts): economic, social, environment Elkington, 1997; Freer Spreckley, 1981 Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) ‘folk, work, place’ • Rubenstein, RJ, (1988), Founder of Triple Bottom Line Investing group

8. Dimensions: Context • A new management strategy • Organization Purpose • Industry Character • Global Variation

9. Dimensions: Context A new management strategy • To create business that has a positive impact on society • To have a positive impact on society while doing business • To minimise the negative impact on society while doing business • To claim of having a positive impact on society while doing business

10. Dimensions: Context Organization Purpose Meaning and value of corporate responsibility contingent on: • Ever-changing/competing organisational priorities that trade off profitability and responsibility, e.g., financial survival, alternative growth strategies, market shifts and employee rights • A widening envelope of responsibility e.g., international supply chain Industry characteristics • CSR excites particular responses from particular industrial sectors e.g., extractive industries versus financial services

11. Dimensions: Context Globally: Variation in Socio-economic cultures • Governments’ social and economic policy priorities moderate justifications for, and anticipated benefits from, embracing CSR • Corporate attitudes to CSR (e.g., business case vs moral case) colour their approach Examples • Welfare state • Harmonious society • Regional competitive advantage • Global justice and equity

12. References • Earhart RS Partiality of Responsibility: Ethics in Sustainability Consulting, (2011), Universiteit voor Humanistiek, Real Life Publishing • Elkington J (1997), Cannibals with Forks: the Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business • Freer Spreckley F, 1981 Social Audit - A Management Tool for Co-operative Working • Geddes P (1854-1932) ‘folk, work, place’ • Gjølberg M (2010), Varieties of corporate social responsibility (CSR): CSR meets the “Nordic Model”, Regulation & Governance, 4(2) June: 203-229 • Ketchen DJ, Thomas JB and McDaniel RR (1996) ‘Process, Content and Context: synergistic effects on organizational performance’, Journal of Management, 22: 231-257 • Pettigrew A and Whipp R (1991), Managing Change for Competitive Success, Blackwell Publishing. • Rayman-Bacchus L (2009), Unpacking Corporate Responsibility, Working Paper, London Metropolitan University